The Italian Prime Minister, Mr Romano Prodi, yesterday praised his government's diplomatic efforts aimed at finding both short-term policing and long-term political solutions to the crisis provoked by a wave of Kurdish immigration that has seen more than 1,200 Kurds, mainly from Turkey, land clandestinely in Italy in the last week.
"It seems to me that the across the board talks initiated by us in the last few days have created a much more positive situation and in saying this I'm referring to Turkey's position," said Mr Prodi in Dacca, India, where he is currently on a state visit.
The Prime Minister's remarks came against the background of a day when police chiefs and security officials from Italy, Turkey, Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, France and Germany met in Rome to exchange information and views on improving border controls and on fighting the organised crime rackets which control the flow of most non-EU migrant workers.
The Prime Minister was also speaking as Italian Foreign Office officials engaged in a complex diplomatic effort aimed at reassuring both senior European partners such as Germany, concerned about the future of their open-border or so called Schengen policy, on the one hand while at the same time pursuing dialogue with Turkey.
Speaking in parliament the Italian Foreign Minister, Mr Lamberto Dini, yesterday again rejected German criticism of Italy's so-called "open arms" policy to the Kurds. In contrast to the manner in which it dealt with Albanian migrants last March - considering the Albanians economic migrants rather than political refugees entitled only to short term visas - Italy has consistently argued that the Kurds have a right to apply for political asylum.
Human rights groups in Italy, including Amnesty International, urged the government yesterday to grant temporary asylum to all Kurdish refugees. "The government must adopt. . . extraordinary humanitarian protection measures for all Kurdish citizens who have come from Turkey and Iraq to flee war and violence," said a letter to Mr Prodi signed by 13 humanitarian groups.